Marianne von Werefkin (First Draft)

Russian-German-Swiss artist/Expressionist painter

Born Sept 10, 1860 in Tula, Russia

Maiden Name: Marianna Wladimirowna Werewkina

Died Feb 6, 1938 in Ascona, Switzerland

Biographical Detail:

Grew up in a wealthy family, mostly spent travelling across Russia

due to her fathers assignments to different locations

1874 Started taking private drawing lessons from the age of 14

1880 Started studying with the famous Russian Realist painter Ilya Repin

1896 Moved to Munich, studied art history

1897 Formed the St. Lukas Brotherhood, an informal artists’ salon; Wassily Kandinsky amongst its members

1903 Werefkin and her partner Jawlensky spent a year and a half in Paris and the south of France

1905 Returned to Munich, Germany

1908 Moved south of Munich to the small Bavarian town of Murnau am Staffelsee; amongst the painters Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky

1909 The four “Murnau artists” as well as Franz Marc and August Macke founded the Neue Künstlervereinigung München

1913 Werefkin joined the “Der Blaue Reiter” group, becoming known as “Blue Riders’ woman rider”

1914 Outbreak of WW1: Werefkin emigrated to neutral Switzerland; first close to Geneva, then Zurich and later Ascona

1924 Founded an artists’ group names The Big Bear or Ursa Major

Artistic Work: Paintings, multiple self-portraits

Selection of Works:

Lettres à un Inconnu (‘Letters to a Stranger’)(1902)(journal)

Self-Portrait in a Sailor’s Blouse (1893)

Portrait of Helene (1909)

Return Home (1909)

Sources:

Artist’s Estate:

Fondazione Marianne Werefkin at the Museo Comunale d’arte moderna, Ascona (Link to Website)

Story map of the artist’s life: